.

Pages

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

I recently taught a couple classes on pruning with the wonderful Stacie and the fabulous David, both from the grounds crew at work. They were a hit! We got some wonderful feedback on both of them, especially the Saturday one. It was a blast! I love teaching, especially when everyone is really engaged and learning, including me! (Yep, I often learn things during the classes. LOVE that part!)

During both classes, two things came up repeatedly: the question on just how much to cut back, and then surprise at the answer of most things get cut to the ground! At least once I even heard audible gasps.

I know it's scary. Terrifying even to some. So I cracked jokes to put people at ease: "Know how to fix your fear of cutting it that hard? Shot of bourbon." ... "Get in touch with your inner Red Queen and off with it's head!" ... "It's okay, y'all. It's not going to die, but even if it did, it's not a puppy."

Even so, I still sensed some reticence. We explained that half the plant was underground, so cutting off the top really wasn't that big of a deal. We explained about the energy transfer that goes on when a plant goes dormant - as each cold snap hits it, a plant slowly transfers it's growing energy into it's roots for winter, where it stays stored until it sprouts back out in spring, so you're really not cutting off anything of great importance. And we explained that most of the stuff above was dead anyway, and even what wasn't would be hard pressed to sprout leaves anywhere but the top, and that would lead to the plant having to push all that energy aaaaaaaallll the way up those spindly branches, wasting a lot of it in the process. But still, many found it hard to digest that you really do cut most things all the way to the ground.

In an attempt to show everyone that it really will be okay, here are some before and after photos of our butterfly garden at work. The before ones were taken last fall when it was rockin' in there. The after ones were just last week and they show exactly what the garden looked like this time last year. I'll try to remember to get a few of what it looks like this fall and post them as well, just to show that everything really is okay.

~ * ~

~ * ~

~ * ~

~ * ~

~ * ~

~ * ~

~ * ~

And one last one, the most dramatic of the bunch. See that 5+ foot tall